Colorado State quarterback Faton Bauta, left, runs for yardage past UTSA defensive end Solomon Wise who struggles with a block from Colorado State offensive lineman Zack Golditch in the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016, in Fort Collins.

FORT COLLINS — The big news in Colorado State’s 23-14 victory over Texas-San Antonio on Saturday at Hughes Stadium — other than the fact that the Rams got their first win of the season — was second-year coach Mike Bobo’s decision to insert true freshman quarterback Collin Hill with the game still in doubt early in the fourth quarter and virtually eliminate any chance of redshirting him in 2016.

“We’re not even close to a finished product,” Bobo said. “We’re inept throwing the ball right now.”

Faton Bauta, the graduate student transfer from Georgia making his second career start, and his first at CSU after taking over for 2015 starter Nick Stevens, was 6-for-17 for 82 yards. Hill was 2-6 for 26 yards, so this wasn’t exactly a Disney story debut, but it was significant for what it represented: Bobo truly meant it when he said it was a three-man quarterback competition, although Stevens was the Mountain West’s second-team all-league quarterback a year ago.

How reluctant was Bobo to take the redshirt off Hill, who came in with the Rams clinging to a 20-17 lead with 12:41 left?

“I wasn’t real reluctant when we couldn’t complete a pass,” Bobo said. “(Hill) worked all week with the twos, him and Nick split time, and we thought he had a better week and thought if we were struggling throwing the ball that we would give him an opportunity. And he didn’t play great either, but he had two big completions … and one was on a third down.”

Is Hill now the starter?

“I’m not going to make that decision right now,” Bobo said.

Under CSU program guidelines, because he is in his first year in the program as a true freshman, Hill isn’t available to comment to the media.

Bauta returned on the fourth play of the drive that led to a Wyatt Bryan 46-yard field goal with 2:24 remaining that gave the Rams the final nine-point margin. That was Bryan’s third field goal of the game, and it was the only scoring of the second half, and the CSU defense — steamrolled in the opener against Colorado — was terrific in not allowing any points on seven UTSA possessions after halftime. Linebacker Kevin Davis, called on to make 17 solo tackles against Colorado, had three sacks for 30 yards in helping shut down the Conference USA Roadrunners.

Bauta’s other collegiate start was Georgia’s 27-3 loss to Florida last season, so this was his first win as a starter.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s definitely a great feeling in the locker room afterwards, for sure. We were pretty excited. I know I was excited. But as everyone probably knows, there’s a ton of work to do.”

Bauta said he didn’t take Bobo’s decision to insert Hill personally. “He has to,” Bauta said. “When I wasn’t throwing the ball well, you have to put him in. It didn’t bother me. I was still there cheering everybody on.”

Junior Dalyn Dawkins, who finished with 68 yards on 15 carries, put CSU up for good with a 1-yard run with 29 seconds left in the first quarter. Bryan’s extra point made it 10-7 at that point, and while the Roadrunners never went away, the Rams went on to the win in front of an announced crowd of 20,673.

With sophomore Izzy Matthews pitching in with 49 yards on 12 carries and Bauta adding 39 yards in four attempts, the Rams had 220 yards on the ground.

CSU took a 17-7 lead after Matthews ran 6 yards to score with 3:18 left in the second quarter. UTSA went 75 yards and scored on Dalton Sturm’s 16-yard pass to Brady Jones with 20 seconds left in the half. Then, with the clock winding down, Bauta completed a 45-yard pass to Elroy Masters Jr., who made an acrobatic catch near the sideline with two seconds left.

“The first thing is, the ball’s in the air, as a receiver you’re thinking, I’ve got to go make a play on it,” Masters said. “Coach Bobo’s been harping on is as a receiver corps that there’s got to be somebody who steps up and we have to be able to make plays in that area. It was just opportunity, and I tried to make the most of it.”

After that, the Rams managed to finish off the half with Bryan’s 28-yard field goal. That came on an untimed down after he missed twice, from 38 and 33 yards, but UTSA was offside both times.

“I just got lucky, to be honest with you,” Bryan said. “The first one, you can say it’s a bad snap, but Hayden (Hunt) still got the hold down and I needed to make the kick. The second one was totally on me, it was just a bad hit. Third one, the third time was the charm. . . I wasn’t going to miss it again, I’ll tell you that much.”

And the Rams went on to the ugly win.

CSU plays its second of three games this season against intrastate rivals next Saturday, at home against Northern Colorado. The Football Championship Subdivision Bears are 2-0 after 55-52 road win over Abilene Christian Saurday.

A graduate of Wheat Ridge High School and the University of Colorado, Terry Frei has been named a state's sportswriter of the year seven times -- four times in Colorado and three times in Oregon. He's the author of seven books, including the novel "Olympic Affair" about Colorado's Glenn Morris, the 1936 Olympic decathlon champion; and "Third Down and a War to Go," about the 1942 football national champion Wisconsin Badgers and the players' subsequent World War II heroism.

CSU quarterback Collin Hill's second ACL tear has opened debate over the role of coaches in preventing off-field injuries, with Colorado Buffaloes coach Mike MacIntyre barring his team from playing basketball and former CSU coach Sonny Lubick allowing his players to compete in intramural sports on campus.

Colorado State University and Becky Hammon engaged in talks over the Rams men's head basketball coaching vacancy, but she has decided to stay at her current post as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs.

With a NCHC regular-season title, a Hobey Baker Award and a NCAA title won last season, the NCHC playoff crown was the only available trophy that eluded the University of Denver hockey team. On Saturday night, they completed the place setting.